Discipline Priest Healing Mythic+ Tips — Shadowlands 9.1

Discipline Priests have received several changes that make the spec more interesting in dungeons. With the addition of a proper AoE dps tool in Mind Sear, some new utility in the form of Mind Soothe and many other adjustments, Discipline is slated to be a very solid option.

If you are unfamiliar with Mythic+ and its associated general mechanics, you can read more about it on our dedicated Mythic+ page below.

For assistance with gearing your Discipline Priest for Mythic+ or other content, please take a look at our gearing guide.

The primary difference between healing in dungeons versus raids is that a single cast of Power Word: Radiance covers the entire group. Due to this, the concept of ramping does not exist as it does for raiding. This allows Discipline to be a much more reactive spec like other healers. We can still benefit greatly from applying shields/damage reductions early, but it is much easier to heal unexpected damage comparatively.

Discipline's healing rotation remains the same for Normal, Heroic, and Mythic dungeons. For more information about the Discipline Priest healing rotation, refer back to the Rotation page.

Discipline Priests have a unique toolkit that can allow us to heal, while also providing a substantial amount of damage. For Mythic+, added damage is a strong factor when considering any healer and Discipline does not need to sacrifice much healing to contribute damage, making us a very enticing choice for pushing Mythic+ keys. In addition to the damage we provide while healing, we also bring several damage reduction cooldowns, some strong utility, and the ability to dispel enemies.

• Rapture, when used, will empower any Power Word: Shield casts while you have the buff active. These shields are incredibly potent and can be used pro-actively to prevent large incoming damage or reactively to stabilize a group. It can also help you during periods of high movement.
• Desperate Prayer is a personal cooldown that increases your health by 25% and also heals you for that amount. This cooldown is ideal to use in a pinch and has a relatively short cooldown.
• Pain Suppression is a 40% damage reduction cooldown that can, and should, be used pro-actively when possible. It can also be used reactively, specifically if you have the Moment of Repose Azerite trait. One situation to use this cooldown in would be when you can anticipate damage to prevent your tank from being 1-shot, such as by bosses on Tyrannical.
• Power Word: Barrier provides you with a great group-wide damage reduction cooldown, provided people stand within it. Use this on high group damage in boss encounters or during trash. Do not be afraid to use this as an extra tank cooldown in situations where it is not needed for the group.
• Fade can provide a substantial absorb shield, assuming you have the Sanctum Azerite trait. This trait can turn your Fade into a personal cooldown, in addition to the threat removal mechanic it provides as baseline.
• Dispel Magic allows you to dispel beneficial buffs from enemies. This can be extremely useful depending on the specific dungeon you are attempting, as many enemies use spells or abilities on themselves that make a pull significantly harder unless you have the ability to remove it./li>
• Purify dispels all Magic and Disease effects from friendly targets.
• Mass Dispel remains a really useful ability to have in our arsenal. Dispelling is very important in Shadowlands, especially with the adjustment allowing Bursting to be both single and Mass Dispelled, nearly trivializing the affix. Mass Dispel also allows for both offensive and defensive dispels.
• Leap of Faith pulls a friendly party member towards you. It is not that useful generally, but can sometimes save someone.
• Mind Control is good to deal with Bolstering if you really do not want a mob in the pack to get Bolstering stacks. While mobs are Mind Controlled, they can not get affected by Bolstering.
• Psychic Scream fears up to 5 enemies close to you for 8 seconds, but damage can break this early. Psychic Scream is primarily used as an AoE interrupt in dungeons.
• Shackle Undead should be used any time a dungeon has relevant Undead creatures.
• Shining Force can be rather beneficial to deal with the Necrotic and Sanguine affixes, due to the requirement of knocking back and slowing enemies. You can find more on these affixes below.
• Mind Soothe reduces the range in which Humanoid or Dragonkin targets will begin attacking you or an ally. This ability can be maintained on multiple enemies at the same time and can help facilitate the ability to skip entire packs in specific dungeons.
• Power Infusion, while having solid potential as a personal cooldown to assist in heavy healing situations, also presents itself as a potential utility tool. Being able to use this on your allies to amp their Haste by a significant amount during their cooldowns can significantly increase your group's DPS during difficult pulls.

Below are the suggested talents for Mythic+. These talents are recommended for all groups and keys at the current time. For more information on talents, please refer back to the talents page.

Level	Choices
15	✗ Castigation	✓ Twist of Fate	? Schism
25	✗ Body and Soul	? Masochism	✓ Angelic Feather
30	✗ Shield Discipline	✓ Mindbender	✓ Power Word: Solace
35	? Psychic Voice	? Dominant Mind	? Shining Force
40	✓ Sins of the Many	✗ Contrition	✗ Shadow Covenant
45	✓ Purge the Wicked	✗ Divine Star	✗ Halo
50	✓ Lenience	✗ Spirit Shell	✗ Evangelism

Level 15 — While Schism can see some situational play, in most cases Twist of Fate will be your go to talent on this row.

Level 25 — Angelic Feather is the best talent in nearly all situations due to the increased movement speed for both yourself and your allies. Masochism can see play in very high keys (20+), but is usually not recommended unless you have a very specific reason to take it.

Level 30 — With the repeated nerfs to Power Word: Solace, both Solace and Mindbender are viable and present different strengths. Solace gives you more on demand burst and the stronger cooldown when needed in Shadowfiend, and Mindbender gives you more consistent healing on a more frequent basis.

Level 35 — All three talents on this row have situational uses, however we suggest primarily using Shining Force, as it is a reliable option for controlling dangerous enemies.

Level 40 — Sins of the Many is the strongest option on this row due to adding to our overall damage and Atonement healing. Shadow Covenant has the potential to be situationally stronger, but carries a decent risk with the Holy school lockout shutting down a large number of important utilities and reactive cooldowns.

Level 45 — The default talent for this row is Purge the Wicked due to the, on average, high target count to multi-DoT.

Level 50 — Lenience is the strongest choice, as it provides considerable damage reduction throughout the course of a dungeon.

The way Mythic+ affixes are tiered in Shadowlands has changed quite a bit since their launch in Legion.

There are three weekly affixes and one seasonal affix. The first affix is available instantly at level two and three, the second affix starts at level four, the third affix is enabled at level seven, and finally the seasonal affix is at level ten.

Fortified — Non-boss enemies have 20% more health and inflict up to 30% increased damage. Focus on helping provide damage during trash packs and try to learn which packs need your attention more than others. Certain enemies have buffs that need to be dispelled. You can use Mind Control for specific enemies to buff your allies. The goal with Fortified is to focus on as much crowd control as possible. Having healing cooldowns ready and available for trash packs will prove beneficial.

Tyrannical — Boss enemies have 40% more health and inflict up to 15% increased damage. On most dungeon boss encounters, we will be able to focus heavy damage on the boss, while still healing our group. The importance of quickly killing bosses on Tyrannical is high, and Discipline brings quite a few tools to the table to help with that.

Bolstering — When any non-boss enemy dies, its death cry empowers nearby allies, increasing their maximum health and damage by 20%. This has a 30 yard range. There really is not much you can do to help besides switching targets to help damage higher health enemies. If you get 1-2 highly bolstered enemies, be ready to cast Pain Suppression or even Rapture / Power Word: Barrier if it is needed.

Raging — Non-boss enemies enrage at 30% health remaining, dealing 100% increased damage until defeated. Conversely to Bolstering, you would want to help damage down specific enemies one at a time to avoid the increased damage done and reduce the healing required on your team. If for some reason the pack is AoE’d down and you have several low health enemies, be ready to use your cooldowns such as Pain Suppression, Rapture or Power Word: Barrier to counter the damage.

Sanguine — When slain, non-boss enemies leave behind a lingering pool of ichor that heals their allies and damages players. The pools left on the ground have two specific issues that need to be dealt with. Firstly, and the most obvious, is your group members (specifically melee DPS) taking damage after killing an enemy; be ready to spot heal these players up quickly. Secondly, enemies that are casting might stand in these pools, which will heal them. It is highly recommended to talent into Shining Force for this affix to ensure that you can knock the enemies back out of the pools and reduce the additional time it takes to kill them.

Bursting — When slain, non-boss enemies explode, causing all players to suffer damage over 4 seconds (this effect stacks). With the ability to dispel this effect (with both Purify and Mass Dispel) this affix should not provide much danger unless managed horribly. Casting Rapture and covering the party in Power Word: Shield will mitigate a large amount of stacks on its own. Power Word: Barrier is also an extremely strong tool in reducing the damage taken to a more manageable level. After you have utilized these two tools, cast Shadow Mend on targets that are still at risk of dying. In severe situations, Pain Suppression can be used to ensure you keep a single target alive.

Inspiring — causes random enemies throughout the dungeon to gain a buff granting other enemies within 15 yards of them crowd control immunity. Utilizing crowd control on the Inspiring enemy themselves can be a viable option, as they do not give themselves immunity. This allows you to pull the remainder of the pack away from the aura and utilize crowd control. Keep an eye out for Undead Inspiring mobs that you can utilize Shackle Undead on.

Spiteful causes an enemy to spawn whenever any mob dies. This enemy will fixate a random player and attempt to melee them for massive damage. They will rapidly lose their health as they stay alive, so throwing crowd control into them until they die on their own is preferred. Shining Force and Psychic Scream are very valuable tools to assist with controlling these.

Necrotic — All enemies' melee attacks apply a stacking blight that inflicts damage over time and reduces healing received. Healing your target after they get somewhere between 10-15 stacks of the debuff becomes nearly impossible. Each stack of the Necrotic Rot debuff accounts for 2% less healing taken. At 10-15 stacks, your healing is reduced by 20-30% and the effectiveness of healing versus working on helping the tank drop stacks swaps. Focus on DPSing to kill the enemy rather than trying to heal the tank. Keep in mind that your absorbs will be limited in effectiveness by this debuff, as well. Pain Suppression is helpful in preventing a death, since damage reductions are not impacted by this affix. Shining Force is extremely helpful in providing a knockback when the tank is attempting to drop the stacks of the debuff. Leap of Faith is worth considering to pull the tank away from the enemies, helping to drop his stacks. The good news is, Necrotic Rot stacks will drop automatically once you leave combat.

Volcanic — While in combat, enemies periodically cause gouts of flame to erupt beneath the feet of distant players. This affix is fairly easy to avoid as a Discipline Priest, due to our ability to heal on the move. The issue you will run into here is when other players are getting hit frequently by the ability. Make sure to be ready to top off those who get hit quickly to avoid extra deaths.

Explosive — While in combat, enemies periodically summon Explosive Orbs that will detonate if not destroyed. We can actually help quite a bit with this affix, given our ability to provide damage. If you are running Power Word: Solace, you can help kill the orb quickly with an instant cast ability. It is recommended to keep an eye out for these orbs and break away from healing to help destroy them, if it is needed.

Quaking — Periodically, all players emit a shockwave, inflicting damage and interrupting nearby allies. This affix can be somewhat annoying due to the spread requirement and interrupt on your casts. Be sure to not be casting when this ability finishes to avoid being spell locked. If players are stacked when this goes off, you may have to follow up with some quick healing to top off the group.

Grievous — When injured below 90% health, players will suffer increasing damage over time until healed above 90% health. Direct heals will remove a stack of Grievous from the target. Attempt to play as aggressively as possible to ensure people do not drop within range of Grievous to begin with. When multiple players have Grievous at the same time, try to focus single target heals on the targets with high stacks to keep the damage manageable. Penance can be used to remove multiple stacks with a single cast. Groups with strong offheals can provide a significant benefit during Grievous weeks.

Storming — While in combat, tornadoes will periodically spawn and move around its spawn area for approximately 10 seconds before despawning. Getting hit by one of these tornadoes will deal damage to you and throw you into the air. There is not much specific advice to give for this affix except to avoid getting hit.

Tormented is the Season 2 seasonal affix. This affix causes Servants of the Jailer to be found throughout the dungeon and grant powerful boons when defeated. If a servant is not dealt with, they will empower the final boss.

A ranking of which boons you want will be updated once the available boons and their strength have been confirmed and tested when the affix goes live.